Gas Leaks

To a casual observer, it looks like someone barnstorming several hundred feet above sparsely populated Central California terrain in a small plane. But it's UC Davis atmospheric researchers surveying Pacific Gas & Electric Co.'s 600 miles of natural gas pipelines between Sonoma and Fresno in a single-engine Mooney TLS packed with scientific instruments designed to sniff out leaks of methane, a potent source of global warming. Their mission: Find gas leaks several miles downwind from the source cheap and fast, then dispatch ground crews to fix the problem and stop more pollution from spewing into the air. The $295,000 experimental project is funded by the industry organization Pipeline Research Council International, with principal backing from PG&E.

Alhambra High School was evacuated Tuesday morning while authorities investigated reports of a gas leak. Before school started, someone reported smelling gas in a classroom. Authorities evacuated the campus while officials tracked the source of the smell and stopped it, according to the Alhambra police Facebook page . Authorities could not say when students would be allowed to return to their classrooms; hazardous materials teams were en route. Police limited traffic on the streets surrounding the school.

A 22-year-old man was charged Thursday with four felony counts, including attempted arson and grand theft auto, related to a natural gas leak earlier this week at a storage facility in Playa del Rey. James Viramonte Cogley of the west Los Angeles area pleaded not guilty to one count each of attempted arson, grand theft auto, unlawful taking of a vehicle and vandalism in excess of $400, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said....

Los Angeles City Atty. James K. Hahn has filed criminal charges against Unocal Corp., alleging that two releases of foul-smelling hydrogen sulfide gas from its Wilmington refinery sickened elementary school students and teachers at three nearby schools. Unocal spokesman Barry Lane said the oil company would have no comment until its lawyers reviewed the case. The charges are the second against Unocal in the last year and a half.

Federal investigators have discovered a big leak in a gas line near the site of a San Juan explosion that killed at least 29 people, officials said. It still was not clear whether that leak caused the blast that ripped apart a six-story commercial building Nov. 21, officials said at a joint news conference of the National Transportation Safety Board and the Puerto Rican government. A coupling in the 1 1/4-inch-wide plastic pipe, which belongs to the San Juan Gas Co.

An apparent gas leak caused a Manhattan apartment building to explode, injuring 17 people, including four children and a firefighter, officials said. The explosion blew out some of the 20-unit building's walls just after 4 p.m. in upper Manhattan's Harlem neighborhood, witnesses said. "It does appear to be a gas leak explosion that then causes a flash fire," Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said.

A small amount of radioactive gas was accidentally released Saturday inside the Connecticut Yankee nuclear power plant in Haddam but it presented no danger to workers or the public, plant operators said. A spokesman for Northeast Utilities said the release occurred while two technicians were removing a gauge from a connection to a plant system cooler. He said the leak did not injure the technicians or require a shutdown of the plant.

Toxic gas leaks forced Ventura city officials to close a water treatment plant Tuesday while emergency workers repaired the damage. Tanks of sulfur dioxide and chlorine began leaking when city water maintenance workers tried to replace two empty containers, said Steven R. Wilson, water superintendent for the city of Ventura. The workers, who were checked for contamination at Ventura County Medical Center, were unharmed, Wilson said.

February 8, 1989 | GEORGE RAMOS and STEPHEN BRAUN, Times Staff Writers

A powerful leak of underground methane gas Tuesday in the Fairfax District prompted officials to close more than 50 businesses in a shopping strip damaged in a 1985 gas explosion and take emergency action to pump water from beneath the highly pressurized area. Los Angeles Fire Department officials and state conservation authorities said they expected private work crews to begin pumping operations at dawn today to force water out of volatile pockets of methane gas.

A natural gas leak in Playa del Rey on Monday was caused by a contractor's truck that drove over a well's protective cover, damaging a small valve, a spokeswoman for Southern California Gas Co. said. The incident occurred around 1 a.m., with the release of pressure causing a “loud screeching noise,” said Angela Fentiman, a spokeswoman for the utility. The truck was discovered with its engine running on top of the valve, she added, but the driver was not located. It was not immediately clear if the truck had driven onto the gas storage facility in the 8100 block of Gulana Avenue, or if it had been inside the campus prior to striking the valve.

A natural gas leak Monday at a storage facility in Playa del Rey may have been caused by vandals, authorities said. The leak was reported around 12:30 a.m. at a natural gas storage well at 8100 Falmouth Ave., Southern California Gas Co. spokeswoman Trisha Nuse told KTLA-TV . Hazmat crews with the Los Angeles Fire Department, along with gas company workers, responded to the scene. A Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad was also called in to assess the situation. The gas was turned off at 3:50 a.m. and no one was injured, Nuse said.

Evacuation orders were lifted Monday night in East Los Angeles after a punctured gas line was repaired, fire officials said. Between 80 to 100 people in about 60 homes in the 300 block of South Gerhard Avenue were forced to leave their neighborhood after work crews punctured the line around 2:45 p.m. The incident was cleared about 8:15 p.m. and residents were being allowed back to their homes, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said....

Dozens of families returned to their homes in a Hawthorne neighborhood Wednesday, weeks after officials evacuated the area when dangerous levels of methane gas were emitted from a well. Tests on the retired well showed a cap had successfully plugged the leak, said Los Angeles County Fire Department Inspector Tony Akins. Thirty-seven families living in the immediate vicinity of the well were evacuated Sept. 12 as a precaution and have been living in hotels. Residents were escorted back to their homes by members of safety teams who conducted surveys of the structures to make sure they could be occupied safely.

A stretch of Imperial Highway in Hawthorne was shutdown Monday morning as crews attempted to cap a water well that has been spewing methane gas for days. Contractors with Boots & Coots International Well Control are attempting to force mud into the well, said Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Brian Jordan. A one-third mile stretch between Inglewood and Firmona avenues on Imperial Highway will be closed to traffic for an unspecified amount of time, he said. The well has been spewing up to 3,000 gallons per minute of water mixed with high levels of methane gas since Thursday. Crews with Gold State Water Co. were trying to plug a retired well on Imperial Highway between Truro and Condon avenues when they discovered an unexpected flow of water. Tests revealed that methane gas had mixed with the well water. "This situation and repairs have no effect on the local water supply, which continues to meet all drinking water quality standards," Patrick Scanlon, vice president of Golden State Water Co., said Monday in a statement.

A powerful thunderstorm blasted through Las Vegas and nearby communities Friday evening, flooding streets, toppling trees and trapping tourists inside casinos. Torrential rains and 70-mph winds also knocked out power in more than a dozen locations, including Primm, the town that sits on Interstate 15 at the California-Nevada border. About 50 people had to evacuate from one condominium complex because of fallen trees, gas leaks and a loss of electricity. They took shelter at Desert Pines High School, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal . The National Weather Service declared a flash flood warning for Las Vegas and surrounding areas for Sunday afternoon through Monday evening.

Eighteen people gathered in a mountain hostel in eastern Spain for a birthday party died in their sleep from an apparent gas leak, officials said. The victims -- ages 20 to 40 -- were part of a group of about 50 who had converged on the hostel in La Todolella, a village 180 miles east of Madrid, for the Saturday night party. To keep themselves warm, they turned on a butane gas heater, emergency workers said. The mayor of La Todolella said the probable cause was a leaking butane bottle.

The rupture of a 6-inch gas main closed National Airport on Friday night, forcing evacuation of the main terminal and control tower and delaying dozens of flights on the eve of a three-day holiday weekend, police and airport officials said. According to a desk officer at the Arlington County Police Department, the airport sought assistance from neighboring police and fire departments at 8:32 p.m. EDT. One woman was overcome by fumes and taken to a hospital, but no other injuries were reported.

Workers were attempting to plug a natural gas leak on a well at a platform about 75 miles off the Louisiana coast on Tuesday. No explosion or blowout was reported. Workers were trying to temporarily plug the well Monday night when they lost control of it, the Associated Press reported. The platform was evacuated safely, the Coast Guard said, and two other wells were shut off. A “rainbow sheen” of natural gas, more than four miles wide and three-quarters of a mile long, was floating on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, authorities reported after a fly-over assessment Tuesday.

Evacuations were lifted Wednesday after officials secured a gas leak in Newbury Park. The ruptured pipe at Newbury and Haigh roads was secured at 1:30 p.m., said Ventura County Fire Department spokesman Bill Nash. The leaking pipe was in an underground vault that appeared to be crushed, breaking open the 10-inch distribution line. All evacuations were lifted around 2 p.m. Local streets in the immediate repair area remained closed while crews finished repairwork, but all other road closures were lifted, Nash said.